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#294 10-Minute Trainer

They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.

Andy Warhol

Can You Get Fit in 10 Minutes a Day?

By Joe Wilkes

There are at least a million excuses not to exercise and I've used all of them. I'm too tired. I'm too hungry. I just ate. I have too much work. I'm on vacation. Maybe, if I feel like it after this show is over . . . or the next show . . . But the king of all the excuses is I'm too busy or I just don't have the time. Well, I'm afraid Tony Horton's new 10-Minute Trainer™ program has blasted that excuse right out of my repertoire. I'll admit that when I heard about the 10-minute workouts I was skeptical. After all, how much can 10 minutes a day move the needle when it comes to personal fitness? But when the Beachbody test group statistics started coming through, the results were pretty eye-opening. People were losing pounds and inches just by squeezing in one or two high-intensity workouts a day into their schedules.

Tony Horton's trained all kinds of people, from CEOs to celebrities to stay-at-home moms. And the common complaint among of all of them is that they don't have the time to spend on exercising. So throughout his 20-plus years of training, Tony has figured out how to adapt his workout techniques to create effective exercise routines so that those with the tightest schedules can still get the tightest bodies. Now with the release of 10-Minute Trainer on DVD, we can all benefit from Tony's experience. They may not be the easiest 10 minutes of your day, but they'll definitely be the most effective.

And these workouts are being released on the heels of a new study by the Journal of the American Medical Association that has found that 10 minutes of exercise every day provides tremendous cardiovascular benefits. The researchers studied 464 post-menopausal women who were overweight, suffered from high blood pressure, and led largely sedentary lifestyles. They found that the women who exercised 10 minutes a day increased their cardiorespiratory fitness by 4.2 percent, a fairly significant amount. And they were just incorporating a little light walking into their routine.

Tony's 10-Minute Trainer routines involve a lot more than light walking. And they will get you a lot more results. Tony uses his Super Stacking Technique™, which layers fat-burning cardio, total-body toning and sculpting, and ab work into one routine. The workouts seem like they would be impossibly hard in theory, but you do so much in such a short amount of time, the workouts just fly by. You don't realize how intense they really are until days later when your jeans start falling off. And while you would think that to get those kind of results you would have to gut out some pretty painful exercises, the workouts are actually fun!

Keep reading for another testimonial about the latest addition to the Beachbody family from Beachbody CEO Carl Daikeler himself!

Confessions of a CEO

By Carl Daikeler, Beachbody CEO

Everybody thinks that as a CEO of a fitness company, I must be a fitness guy. The opposite is true. I'm just like the next guy. I don't like working out. There are a thousand things I'd rather be doing. Lack of time is the biggest complaint people have, and I have the same issue. I've got no time!

Luckily, my good friend and fitness trainer Tony Horton has spent the last 20 years helping all sorts of busy clients from celebrities to soccer moms, and even CEOs like me, find the time to get in shape. He's renowned in Hollywood for getting actors tight, lean, and camera-ready fast.

People found that by using Tony's exclusive Super Stacking Technique™, they were able to get results quickly and stay motivated. The ultimate test was to see if their jeans fit better, and they did. Jeans don't lie. Still not convinced? Here are my top 10 reasons why you should give it a try.

10 Things You Will Experience with Tony's 10-Minute Trainer

You won't believe you can get results this dramatic in just 10 minutes.

You will do the first workout; and you'll find it so simple to follow that you are now even more certain there's no way you will get results as dramatic as we promised.

You will read through the diet plan, and be shocked at how easy it is to understand.

You will wake up and have no excuse, so you will work out . . . for 10 minutes.

You will feel good throughout the day, actually having finally gotten some REAL exercise into your schedule.

You will easily incorporate the diet guide into your choices.

After two weeks, someone will ask you if you are on a diet.

They will laugh at you when you tell them you work out 10 minutes a day.

After a month, that person will ask you again how you are losing the weight. When you tell them, they will ask you for the Web site so they can buy the program too.

They won't believe they can get results as good as you have in just 10 minutes, but since you proved it, they will try, and they will succeed.

If you'd like to read more thoughts from Carl and get the inside scoop on what's going on at Beachbody, check out his blog here.

5 Tips for Healthier Eating

By Steve Edwards

Almost everywhere we go we're reminded that we need to eat better. We can't take a trip to the grocery store, read the paper, or browse the Internet without being reminded that we're getting fatter and less healthy, and how we need to change our dietary habits. Along with this obvious information, we're also given a smorgasbord of options that all promise to turn the tide on the obesity epidemic. Some of these are reasonable, but most are marketing gimmicks that are often expensive, rarely effective, and sometimes border on the bizarre. Below, we offer five simple, traditional, money-saving, and effective ways to take control of your diet.

Eat slow. As more and more daily activities get heaped on our plates, we tend to get bogged down and do everything in a rush. Learning to eat slower will help make each meal an experience. And the more that eating is an experience, the higher the likelihood that you'll want to make it pleasant. One of the effects of eating slower is that you'll tend to make better food choices. Furthermore, the slower you eat, the better chance you'll have of not overeating. Your body registers when it's full fairly quickly, but we've become a society of speed eaters who inhale far too many calories—before our natural responses even have time to take effect. Eating just a bit slower can be enough to allow your brain to feed you healthy signals. Also, chewing your food thoroughly has two additional benefits. For one, you'll taste your food better. Therefore, if you're making better food choices, it will heighten the pleasure of the meal. It also aids your digestion process. Well-chewed food puts less stress on your body to break it down and, hence, you'll feel more energized following your meal.

How slow is "slow"? A study done at the University of Rhode Island showed that those who chewed their food thoroughly ate less in 29 minutes than those who chewed their food slowly ate in 9 minutes. So you can still slow down and have plenty of time to enjoy your lunch hour.

Drink less during meals. Most of us are aware that we don't drink enough water (more on this later), but meals are not the place to catch up. Liquid dilutes your stomach acids, which can counteract some of the work you've done following step one. Furthermore, "washing down" your food is exactly the opposite of what you want to be doing with your calories. The less you drink while eating, the more effective your meal will be.

How we became a society that quaffs large quantities of liquid while eating is a bit of a mystery. No other animals do it naturally, so it's most likely an effect of advertising. Not much can be worse for you than combining "hamburger, fries, and a Coke," which some ads offer up as the pinnacle of a manly meal. Water alone, which is healthy, dilutes your stomach acids and should be limited, but coupling your meal with soda—even diet soda—is just plain awful. Not only does soda contain calories, it also contains phosphates and acids that change your stomach's ability to digest the food you're eating. Not to mention that they are all overly sweet, which interferes with your ability to savor the flavor of natural foods and negatively impacts your enjoyment of the meal. There's probably a lot more rationale behind the fact that wine has been the meal accoutrement in most cultures. It tends to enhance the flavor of foods but, more importantly, it's generally consumed in small quantities. A four-ounce glass of wine is plenty to "wash down" most any meal, and that's all the liquid you need.

Drink more water (except during meals). As we've stated time and time again, plain water is incredibly good for you and most of us don't drink enough of it. Beginning each day with a large glass of water is one of the best practices to turn into a ritual. This step alone both helps hydrate you for the day and can instill a habitual response for wanting to drink more water as you become dehydrated.

Staying hydrated affects almost every aspect of your life. It makes you less hungry, so it's one of the best weight loss tricks you can do. You cause less cellular damage, so you'll function better on almost every level. You'll be more energized, think better, work out more effectively, and recover from workouts and stress quicker, and your skin will stay supple and young-looking.

How much water you need varies, but most of us should drink six to eight or so eight-ounce glasses of it a day. This is, of course, highly variable, which is based on temperature, activity level, and the rest of your diet. A diet that is filled with natural foods that contain water—like fruits and veggies—will require that you drink less water, whereas the standard American "junk" diet of fast "convenient" foods, sugar, and fatty meats will require that you drink more.

Do keep in mind that, while unlikely, you can drink too much plain water. This is mainly a concern if you're exercising a lot. Plain water dilutes your body salts—electrolytes—and excessive diluted amounts can cause a condition called hyponatremia. However, most of us consume far too much salt in our diets, making this diluting effect a positive one. For a normal person, hyponatremia isn't a concern unless you're drinking in excess of a gallon of water per day.

Eat more fruit. Most of us don't eat enough fruit. Fruits offer us not only an abundance of fiber, water, vitamins, and minerals but also bioflavonoids, which protect our blood vessels, as well as provide well-documented antioxidant benefits. Fruit has gotten a bit of a bad rap lately because of its "high" sugar content, but even people with diabetes may eat three to five servings of fruit a day. The sugar contents of plain sugar, honey, candy, sweets, sodas, etc., are basically empty calories. Replacing your standard sweets with fruit is probably the best dietary swap you can make.

Fruit's sugar content is often exaggerated. For example, let's look at the sugar content of some raw fruits.

Fruit (100 grams)

Banana

Raisin

Apple

Pineapple

Grapes

Peach

Cantaloupe

Grapefruit

Strawberry

Watermelon

Percent Sugar

19.6

14.2

11.0

10.6

9.3

7.5

6.5

5.2

4.5

3.2

Furthermore, natural raw fruit fructose sugar is sparse, not dense, making its calorie impact limited. It is metabolized through the liver, and there, it is generally converted into liver glycogen stores. Since raw fruits offer fiber, fluids, vitamins, and minerals that start on the acidic side but degenerate within digestive straits toward alkaline-ash metabolites, they are regarded as the healthiest appetite-suppressing whole-food snacks you can choose.

Change your focus. Instead of focusing on the junky foods you shouldn't eat, try focusing on the foods you should eat. The easiest way to do this is to focus on what these foods can do for you and how they will make you feel. This can take a little practice because our natural tendency is to let our mind slide into "craving" mode. But by learning to crave performance from your body, your mind will naturally begin to crave foods that make this happen.

The easiest way to begin this change is by focusing on how your workout feels when you've eaten well and how it feels when you've eaten poorly—can you "Tilt, Tuck & Tighten" with Shaun T or Turbo Jam® with Chalene Johnson without getting exhausted? At no time will your mindset desire to create good habits than when being put under the duress of exercise. This is the time to reference those chili-cheese fries you had at lunch or the cake you ate at a coworker's going-away party. Nothing creates cravings for plain whole foods like referencing how your body is feeling during the 45th minute of P90X® Plyo.

Test Your Fruit Pastry IQ!

Burger King's Dutch Apple Pie: 13 grams. Along with these 13 grams of total fat, you get 3 grams each of saturated and trans fats. If you choose to have this apple treat after you've eaten a burger and fries (and don't forget the high-calorie and sugary soda), you'll consume 300 mostly empty calories (120 of those calories from fat). This treat is not only sugary, with 23 grams worth; it also contains a lot of sodium—270 milligrams of sodium to be exact. I'm certain that the 1 gram of dietary fiber that this pastry contains will not be enough to cleanse you of all the calories and fat you consume. You should actually eat apples in their natural state to get the dietary fiber that you need. One large apple provides you with about 5.1 grams of dietary fiber. As Steve stated, "eat more fruit," not more fruit pastries. That large apple also has the following: only 110 calories; 12.7 milligrams of calcium; and 226.8 milligrams of potassium.

KFC's Lil' Bucket™ Lemon Crème: 15 grams. Total fat content is 15 grams, with 7 grams of saturated fat and 1.5 grams of trans fat (less than the apple pie, if that helps). That total fat content is 23 percent of your recommended daily value.* After your fried chicken and mashed potato meal, you'll consume another 410 calories (140 of those calories from fat). Like the apple pie, the lemon crème also has a high sodium content at 270 milligrams. You get 61 grams of carbohydrates. But most of that is in the form of sugar; you get 53 grams of sugar and 2 grams of dietary fiber. Instead of eating the lemon crème to fulfill your vitamin C daily requirement, try an actual lemon to satiate your vitamin C needs. Sixty-one grams, or about 0.25 cup's worth, of fresh lemon juice contains more than 45 percent of your recommended daily value for vitamin C. You can also enjoy its other benefits, including antioxidant and antibiotic effects.

Starbucks Cranberry Orange Scone: 16 grams. Of those 16 grams, 9 grams are saturated fat. This contains no trans fat, if that's at all encouraging or comforting. So far, the scone beats the apple pie and the lemon crème in the calorie department. The scone has 420 calories, with 150 of those calories from fat. It also contains 20 milligrams of cholesterol. Sodium content is an impressive 390 milligrams. Of its 66 grams of total carbs, 2 grams are dietary fiber and 30 grams are sugar. You'll consume a trace amount of protein at 4 grams. Half a cup of cranberries only contains 23 calories and will provide you with vitamin C, dietary fiber, manganese, and vitamin K. And cranberries have also been highly valued for their ability to reduce the risk of urinary tract infections. One cup's worth of oranges only contains 85 calories, and 4.3 grams of dietary fiber, 1.7 grams of protein, 72 milligrams of calcium, and 325.8 milligrams of potassium. Its phytonutrients will also offer you antioxidant benefits. Oranges can help protect your immune system and protect against cardiovascular disease.

Hostess Fruit Pie (Peach): 21 grams. One pie contains 480 calories (with 189 of those calories coming from fat). With its 21 grams of total fat, you also consume 10 grams of saturated fat. Cholesterol content is 20 milligrams. Sodium contents keep worsening. This pie offers an amazing 450 milligrams of sodium (19 percent of the recommended daily value). Of the 68 grams of total carbs, almost half are in the form of sugar—30 grams of sugar. There is a trace amount of dietary fiber, at 2 grams, and protein, at 4 grams. Peaches are great sources of vitamin C, iron, and potassium (150.1 milligrams of potassium for one small peach or about 2.8 ounces). And they have a gentle laxative effect, which you'd likely need if you opted to eat at Burger King or KFC. However, beware of peaches canned in syrups—their calorie and sugar contents are high.

Bakers Square Cherry Pie (one eighth of pie): 23 grams. One slice (one eighth) has 23 grams of total fat—35 percent of the recommended daily value. And 5 of those fat grams are saturated fat or 25 percent of the recommended daily value. Of all the options listed here, this is the "best" as far as sodium content is concerned (with only 30 milligrams of sodium compared to the ones in the triple digits above). One slice also has 55 grams of total carbs, including 1 gram of dietary fiber and 20 grams of sugar. It does, however, contain 40 milligrams of calcium. Cherries contain vitamin C, vitamin A, and bioflavonoids. Health benefits include helping fight against cancer; aiding in the prevention of heart disease; relieving pain associated with arthritis, gout, and headaches; easing symptoms associated with Fibromyalgia Syndrome; and improving physiological and mental functions. One cup of cherries contains 93 calories, 3 grams of dietary fiber, 1.5 grams of protein, 18.8 milligrams of calcium, and 321.9 milligrams of potassium.

*Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

If you'd like to ask a question or comment on this newsletter article, just email us atmailbag@beachbody.com.